Saturday, April 23, 2011

The last episode of Lucky Cat Series 5 will air today on Resonance 104.4FM. Today I will be joined by Joey Leung of Terracotta Distribution to discuss the upcoming Far East Film Festival (5th - 8th May @ The Prince Charles Cinema, London).

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Just before I left for China I attended the Anna May Wong evening at The Cinema Museum in Kennington. Tucked a way in South London back street (aren't all the best thing?s!) I was bowled over by The Cinema Museum - old posters and lobby cards, ushers in stylish vintage get up, old projectors and even cinema carpet samples.

There was a nice little display of Anna May Wong stills and lobby cards and a cute little china figurine doll:

The evening began with a screening of Elaine Mae Woo's documentary film on Anna May Wong: Frosted Yellow Willows. I had heard that the film focused mainly on Anna May's professional life and was a little idealistic. I found this to be the case and was perplexed as to why Elaine had chosen to present such a formal account of AMW's life. After the film Elaine did a Q&A and explained that she is working on a part 2 which will cover the more personal aspects of AMW's life. I am not sure why she didn't do one comprehensive documentary instead. I know there is a lot of material but I think it would have been more balanced and well rounded. Elaine was a little vague in her answers during the Q&A and quite often went 'off piste', totally ignoring one gentleman's question about including an account of the song These Foolish Things (which was written for Anna May by writer and broadcasting executive Eric Maschwitz as an evocation of his longing for her after they parted) in the next film. To have a song written for you (and a good song at that) is pretty amazing - surely worth a play/mention in a documentary!

I did learn some new facts from the film and it was wonderful to see all the old footage, it is clear that Elaine Mae Woo is passionate about her subject and wants people to remember AMW as the great star she was. She was also a person, and people have flaws, it doesn't mean they are bad or they aren't worthy of being remembered or that they are not role models for a race (quite a burden anyway, I guess even more so in AMW's case as there just was not anyone else representing Chinese women on screen at that time).

After the Q&A it was time for a rare screening of the Anna May film Song - with live piano accompaniment - what a treat!
My favourite test excerpt from the silent film was when the character Carlotto was introduced and he was described as being "full of garlic and gaiety". What a wonderful description.
I really enjoyed the film - AMW shows her comedic potential in some silly skits and really steals the show. The knife throwing scenes are pretty hair raising - especially when the thrower is blind!
For a film of 1927 the special effects used were pretty good; an underwater sea fight, a flash back positioned on screen in a table and a scene shot underneath a steam train!

I am back from my whirlwind trip to China - 3 cities in 11 nights! I ate my way around Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong; took plenty of photos, kept a food diary, partied, went sight-seeing, bought records, got a qipao made, made friends, visited old friends, took planes, trains, ferries, rickshaws, trams and taxis!

I recorded some material whilst in China which I plan to share via my radio show and podcasts. I only have 2 episodes left of Lucky Cat Series 5 and I feel like I have so much to share now. I will podcast whilst off air and I will be back for series 6 in September.

You may be surprised to learn that this was in fact my first ever trip to China! For a Sinophile like myself it was a long awaited dream come true. It was only a snapshot of a huge country and I experienced a mixture of emotions, including amazement and at times disappointment - I will expand on this more in future posts. It wasn't all a bowl of cherries (or jujube berries?) but then China also inspired and astounded me too.

I wanted to interview the brilliant Chinese singer Cha Cha whilst I was in Shanghai but did not get the chance (though we did manage to do a little partying at the bassy basement club Shelter). Here is the video from the cool dubby track '神经末梢 (Shen Jing Mo Shao)' by AM444 (a collaboration between Cha Cha and Dutch producer Jay Soul). This is taken from the album 'Eye Wonder' . Really like the artwork for the album, done by local artist Nini Sum.Cha Cha and soon to be hubby Gaz Williams will be over in the UK this Summer so I hope to catch up with her then for an interview and maybe some jamming in the studio....For more Shanghai related shennanigans check out Gaz's web site for his Shelter nightclub:http://subcultureshanghai.com/.I was at the club for the release of SIG's new album, more to come on that in a future post...